Photo via Georgina Cook
Let’s be clear: any and all disdain for that tepid Major Lazer album was not derived from stereotypical self-loathing engendered when lily-white hipster icons attempt to do dance hall. Case in point: “Portal,” off Kode9 & Space Ape’s 2006 Memories of the Future–a track that Hyperdub is giving away to promote the duo’s first ever American tour–one that shuffles with a gloomy crippled funk and effectively obviates the argument.
This is the difference between re-appropriating versus re-contextualizing. Fair use versus facsimile. Of course, this is more dubstep than dancehall, but the point’s the same: melanin matters less than forward motion, ideas far more than irony. This is the sort of spooky skronk that zombies really would dance to (yes Colin Bluntstone).
Download:
MP3: Kode9 & Spaceape-“Portal”
